ADDIMETAL, a French original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of additive manufacturing (AM) hardware, will debut its first product, the K2-2 metal binder jetting (MBJ) printer, at Formnext 2024 in Frankfurt, Germany (November 19-22). The result of four years of development, including a year of beta testing, the K2-2 is the first MBJ 3D printer to be made in France.

Controlled by ADDIMETAL’s proprietary Orion software, the K2-2 features both customizable printing parameters and an open materials ecosystem, the company has emphasized user flexibility in the machine’s design. Additionally, according to ADDIMETAL, the K2-2 incorporates the largest printhead on the market. Attendees of Formnext 2024 can learn more about the K2-2 and ADDIMETAL at Booth E21 in Hall 12.0.

In the summer of 2023, JPB Système, a French aerospace and defense contractor that relies heavily on automated advanced manufacturing techniques in its workflows, made a key seed investment into ADDIMETAL. JPB also served as an early beta tester for the K2-2.

In a press release, ADDIMETAL CEO Mohamad Koubar said, “The K2-2 represents a game-changing advancement for industries like aerospace, automotive, luxury, and more. Our goal is to become one of the European leaders in metal [AM]. With the K2-2, we provide a solution that bridges the gap between lab-scale research and full-scale industrial production.”

ADDIMETAL’s CCO, Franck Liguori, said, “Our machine’s ability to use non-proprietary consumables offers unparalleled freedom to manufacturers, providing the flexibility they need to push the limits of innovation. We’ve designed the K2-2 to be versatile, cost-efficient, and easy to integrate into existing workflows, making it ideal for R&D teams and industrial applications alike.”

Although MBJ is a relatively small market segment dominated by a few players—namely Desktop Metal and Markforged (in the process of being acquired by Nano Dimension), followed by GE and HP—with an increasing number of emerging companies also jumping into the mix, ADDIMETAL should benefit from its close relationship to an aerospace innovator like JPB Système, as well as its unique position as an MBJ OEM based in France. Further, the heightening trade war tensions between the US and China — already being exacerbated by Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election — should add to the pressure on European countries to reshore their manufacturing supply chains.

As with other major EU nations, France is an especially difficult position in the trade war context, given how equally reliant the nation is, economically, on both China and the US. Only a few days ago, China’s commerce minister publicly called on France to play a leadership role in negotiating the EU’s response to Chinese EV subsidies in the European market.

Regardless of the outcome of that ongoing dispute, France’s bargaining position and supply chain resilience can be bolstered by the nation’s harnessing of more autonomy over its access to metal parts. As has been illustrated by the major factors shaping the global trade landscape in the last several years, leveraging advanced manufacturing assets in strategically critical industries is a disproportionately effective tool for players hoping to have a voice in the trade war conversation.

Images courtesy of ADDIMETAL